Hamlet, By William Shakespeare - 1219 Words

In Shakespeare’s classic play Hamlet, there are certainly a host of contrasting and influential characters that come together to naturally unfold the surprising events that make up the story. One such character is Ophelia, who spices up the play quite a bit. One of the main components, aside from her unrequited love of Prince Hamlet and her spying on him on behalf of her father and brother, that allows her to be such a central character is her madness, which leads up to her death. Not everyone agrees on the subject of Ophelia’s madness, especially if it was real or feigned and if it’s actual cause. In my opinion, Ophelia was driven to genuine madness out of grief and confusion. Ophelia’s biggest downfall was the fact that she fell in love†¦show more content†¦When Laertes and Polonius tell her that Hamlet is only using her for sex and that she needs to wait for the proper husband that they choose for her and stay a virgin until she becomes a wife, she doesn’t know whether to believe them or go with her heart. Hamlet doesn’t make it any easier on the poor girl (or the audience) to decipher his true feelings. One moment he tells her that he loves her ­Ã‚ ­the next he is insulting her and assuring her that he never did love her. This is enough to make any woman go insane. After all, Ophelia was quite honestly dazed and confused about the entire situation and didn’t know who she was supposed to trust and believe. There is speculation that Ophelia may have been pregnant with Hamlet’s child. If this is true, it gives even more reason for Ophelia to have been confused and mad. â€Å"Get thee to a nunn ry, why woulds t thou be a breeder of sinners?† (Hamlet to Ophelia, Act III Scene I, 121). In this famous scene, Hamlet tells Ophelia that he never loved her and that she should be sent to a brothel. He also goes on to declare that breeding would be stupid, because bringing children into the evil world they lived in would be selfish. This has led people to believe that Hamlet got Ophelia pregnant and then convinced her to get an abortion. Losing a child is, of course, a painful and emotionally scarring experience for any woman, so it would make perfect sense for that to